Cannabis, which is commonly known as marijuana, is often used as a medicine for the treatment of a variety of conditions. Cannabis contains numerous cannabinoids, such as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinolic Acid (THCA). Acidic cannabinoids, such as THCA and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) may be converted to more active cannabinoids, through a process known as decarboxylation. For example, THCA is converted to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) through decarboxylation. Decarboxylation is typically performed by smoking cannabis. The heat generated during smoking decarboxylates the inactive cannabinoids, such as THCA, into the active form, such as THC.
The use of smoking as a means for delivering the active ingredients in cannabis to a patient has a number of problems. For example, ensuring a proper dosage for medical marijuana users is difficult with smoking since each patient has different smoking tendencies which will affect the dose. More particularly, medical marijuana is often prescribed as a dose per day by weight for a patient. An example of a medical marijuana prescription may be 0.5 g of marijuana taken two times per day for a period of 30 days. Different users may, however, inhale a different amount of the active ingredients when smoking. For example, the actual dose for a patient (i.e. the amount actually consumed) will depend on variables such as the elapsed time between inhales, the amount of time that the patient holds the smoke in, the tightness of the cannabis cigarette, the moisture content of the cigarette (which may affect the burn rate between breaths) and other variables.
Also, some patients may be reluctant to smoke marijuana because of a stigma associated with smoking marijuana, perceived health concerns associated with smoking, or their inability to smoke effectively due to other medical conditions.
Thus, there is a need for improved methods of delivering medical marijuana.
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